Listening To Sad Music In Group May Trigger Depression

For all music lovers and admirers, music ceases to be just an art form, and becomes an experience, an extended sense of expression. Its almost magical how multiple genres of music resonates with a myriad moods of humans. Everybody has their own list of preference however If you happen to be fond blues, old school jazz or similar ‘sad’ genres of music, and love humming the tunes and brooding upon the sad lyrics with a group of friends, there could be a reason to worry. According to this new study, listening to sad music in a group and talking about sad things tend to make people feel more depressed. While music can be a great means of recreation Listening to sad music with group of friends may result in adverse psychological effects.

As per the study, this kind of group rumination (a maladaptive focus on negative thoughts) with music was found to be a more common trend amongst the younger lot , subsequently reflecting the relative importance of both music and social relationships amongst younger people.

Corresponding author of the study Sandra Garrido from Western Sydney University, Milperra, Australia, said that these results highlight an important information about how people with depression use music.

"Susceptible individuals with a predilection for rumination may be most likely to suffer negative outcomes from group rumination, with social feedback deepening and exacerbating negative thoughts and feelings," Garrido added.

The study which was published in Frontiers in Psychology, also indicated that listening to inspiring music and happy music in a group and a more positive interaction on music and life and general, can lead to an inverse effect people feel good and inspired.

The researchers wanted to investigate the self-reported effects on mood that comes with listening to sad music in group, and then how is the general temperament influenced by this rumination, effecting depression and coping style.

For the study they observed 697 participants who took an online survey about "their ways of using music, types of musical engagement and the effect of music listening."

In addition to the survey, the participants also completed a number of supplementary questionnaires, on the basis of which the researchers determined factors such as the presence of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress; general tendencies towards depression; coping styles, i.e. tendencies towards rumination or reflection; musical engagement as a measurement of wellbeing; as well as questionnaires addressing a variety of aspects of music listening, both alone and in a group.

On the basis of their findings they concluded that young people may be more vulnerable to the impacts of group rumination with music.